|
|||||
UN Performance Problems UN Management Accountability Struggles Where is the Rule of Law? Inadequate UN Oversight Recent Developments
|
|
The lackluster reform of basic UN human resources management
responsibilities over the decades is well illustrated by a
perpetually-delayed career development system for UN staff. Based on recommendations made in
1971, the UN Secretariat finally promised the General Assembly in 1978
that it would develop a career development system for staff, who have in
fact endured, and still suffer, decades of budget freezes, staff cuts,
hiring freezes, and micro-management attempts by Member States. Report of the Joint
Inspection Unit on personnel problems in the United Nations: Report of the
Secretary-General", A/8454, Parts I and II, of 5 October 1971, pp.
20-24 and 101-166, and II, paras. 365-394. "Report of the
Secretary-General on the implementation of personnel policy reforms",
A/C.5/33/2 of 17 September 1978.
In
1983, the then Office of Personnel Services developed a very extensive
draft plan and system design for a career development system, but the
initiative gradually faded away. Much later, in 1989, the General Assembly
urged again that this central task be completed to ensure fair treatment
and recognize staff merit.
"Personnel questions",
General Assembly resolution 44/185 of 19 December 1989, Part A.,
para. 7.
In
1992, the Secretariat hired expert consultants who prepared a report on a
career development system.
The Secretary-General then presented a lengthy report to the
General Assembly. It detailed
the concept and scope of career development, the elements of an integrated
system, and outlined an implementation plan with pilot projects and
resource requirements. This
sounded promising, but the report was notable mainly for its extreme
complacency about this high-priority management need. It stated smugly, in light of the
sorry past history sketched above, that: "Efforts toward the
establishment of an effective career development system for the
Secretariat staff have been going on for sometime, an indication that the
Administration strongly holds the view that career development is an
indispensable strategy for the effective management of the most important
resources of the Organization … the staff. A landmark … was the issuance of
[a 1978 bulletin] … in which
the Secretary-General announced the intention of establishing such a
system. Despite … a great amount of
work done on [a number of tasks], it was clear that a fully functioning
… system was not in
place, leading to the need to review the concept … and to redirect the
efforts as necessary. Drawing
on … consultations and
fully cognizant of the realities within which the Organization operates,
it was considered necessary to recast the whole concept of career
development if a viable career development system was to be established.
Accordingly, the … [elements]
… outlined in the
present report are part of this process." "Career development at the
United Nations: Report of the Secretary-General", UN document A/C.5/47/6
of 25 August 1992, paras. 4-5.
Despite
these pious pronouncements, the issue again languished. The Assembly
pushed once again for action in 1993, but the momentum disappeared in
another fog of Secretariat conceptual discussions. Another half-decade
passed. Then, in a 1999
interview, Secretary-General Annan mentioned that: "[Q] As ASG for Personnel in 1986, you stressed in UN
Special that career development was crucial. You reiterated this in our columns
two years ago as Secretary-General.
Nothing seems to have changed though. Why? [A] … Personnel is working
on a plan, and I expect this plan to have specific details on career
development." Personnel questions",
General Assembly resolution 47/226 of 30 April 1993, Section I.B,
"Career development". "Human resource management
policies: Report of the Secretary-General", A/49/445 of 29 September
1994, para. 4, "A strategy for the
management of human resources of the Organization", A/C.5/49/5, 1994,
paras. 1-20, and
"A messenger of peace in a
messy world", UN Special, February 1999, pp. 9-10.
Several
more years passed, but in 2002 there was indeed some promising news
(although those who might have been awaiting a career development system
for two or three decades clearly would no longer need it.) The Secretary-General finally
reported that a comprehensive career development system (or at least a
structure therefore) had been put into place, with a policy, concepts,
special programs for junior staff, some workshops, a Career Support Guide,
and generic job profiles. He stated that future efforts will seek to build
more systematic "success planning" and career information and
"enhancement" of the above programmes, and greater attention to the needs
of General Service staff. "Human resources management
reform: Report of the Secretary-General," UN document A/57/293 of 8
August 2002, paras. 55-61. One
can only hope for three things: -- first, that the comprehensive
system in place will not be an empty shell of grand policies but no
decisive actions, like the management accountability system of the
1990s; -- second, that it will not take
three decades to fully implement this new system, as it took to design it;
and
|
|||
